Sea kayaking in search of the Holy Grail: the Ardbeg distillery, Islay

We continued to paddle with a tail wind along the SE coast of Islay. As a result, we had no olfactory warning of the delight that lay round the headland. Tony sprinted ahead leaving David and I in his wake.


We decided to the tie the kayaks up as we thought we may be spending some time on land. The essence of our trips is exploration but this one was more of a pilgrimage.


The clear Celtic symbols left us in no doubt that we were now on hallowed and spiritual ground. We had arrived at the Ardbeg distillery, home and birth place of the Lord of the island malt whiskies.


Tony was quite relaxed as he waited for our arrival outside the temple of the old drying kiln. He was still licking his lips as we approached, a clear sign of a quick one!


We entered the great shrine of Ardbeg and prepared for worship of a palatial kind.


But first we were delighted to find that the old drying kiln now served sustaining food and drink for the faithful. As we placed our order, the serving staff did not bat an eyelid at our dripping kayaking gear. As the sun had not yet passed the yardarm, we decided to wash a bowl of delicious soup down with a pint of bottle conditioned Finlaggan Ale from the Islay Ales brewery. Afterwards we found the facilities to be warm and spotless. Only after a ritual washing the salt from our faces did we feel prepared to sample the great Ardbeg....

14/07/2008

Dun roamin', the return to Hirta.

Emerging from the Great Arch of Dun for the last time, we headed for Village Bay on Hirta. It was 21:30, the end of a fantastic day.


As we paddled under the ramparts of Dun, showers of puffins emerged from their burrows and launched themselves over the cliffs to splash into the sea around us. Photo JLW.


Finally we landed on a small sandy beach revealed by the low tide. We had finally circumnavigated Hirta and landed on Village Bay!

02/06/2008

Lonely Loch Einich

As we made our way further up Gleann Einich we came across the Alt Ruigh na Sroine, the first of many streams to ford.


Later on the Beanaidh Bheag river was to prove far tougher and necessitated a change of socks.


As we gained height the mountain landscape became more dramatic.


Under wild skies the granite ridges were dusted with the first snows of winter.


The air was filled with the sound of burns tumbling down from high corries and rattling the boulders in their beds.


At last we breasted a moraine and below us lay lonely Loch Einich.


We were dwarfed by the scale of the landscape.


Loch Einich lies at a height of 598m. It is seldom visited, even in summer. On the 9th of September this year, Rothiemurchus Estate's head stalker, Peter Ferguson made a very sad discovery. He found a dead body inside a tent which had obviously been pitched for several weeks. The man had been a writer and photographer. I hope his death was peaceful as he was so far away from help and his family.


We started the long descent to Glen More as the clouds lowered from the high corries.


In the valleys it was still autumn and bright October sunshine had yet to give way to winter.


This little lochan reflected the beauty and tranquility of this wonderful place. By 16:30 we were a world away, back in Glasgow.

05/08/2008

Gleann Einich in the Cairngorms by mountain bike.

Over the last 10 days I have sea-kayaked, windsurfed and mountain biked across Scotland from Galloway to the Grampians (using a car to get from location to location). It has been a fantastic outdoor experience.


Today we mountain biked deep into the heart of the Cairngorm mountains making our way to high ground through stands of the ancient Caledonian forest.


It is a high plateau with deep glacial valleys radiating out from its heart.


We made our way into the depths of Gleann Einich which is overlooked by the jagged ramparts of Sgoran Dubh Mor, 1,111m.

Magnificent!

05/10/2008

The great arch of Dun, St Kilda

We approached the great arch of Dun from the SW.


We were soon dwarfed by the sheer scale of the place and the tide was running out against us like a salty river.


Then as we entered the main portal we saw there were two exits to Village Bay. We chose the smaller one.


On exiting into the shelter of Village Bay we could have just headed for the Cuma and a hot shower. Instead we turned to the SE and rounded Gob an Duin, the most easterly point on Dun. Sadly I have no photographs as the wind against tide meant the point was quite lively. We then proceed up the coast of Dun and re-entered the SW portal of the great arch.


This was looking back through the NE portal as the others came through after me.


The flow of the tide had built up rather quicklysince our first transit of the arch....


and I was soon rejoining the others inside the arch again.

02/06/2008

The south west coast of Dun, St Kilda archipelago.

We emerged from the darkness and enclosure of the caves of Dun and found ourselves once more with the empty Atlantic horizon to the south west.


We paddled under Dun's sheer cliffs and made for the stack of Sgeir Cul an Rudha.


Above us thickening cirrus clouds announced the arrival of a front and the promise of wind by morning.


We were still in awe of the sheer scale of the rock architecture of these islands.


Squalls of wind gusted between the stack and Dun.


We rounded the great headland of Giumachsgor and there before us, lay the portal of the Great Arch of Dun!

02/06/2008

The Riddle of Dun: subterranean sea kayaking!

We emerged from the cave on the Hirta side of the Dun Gap in the St Kilda archipelago. Our eyes adjusted to the light and now focussed on Hirta's smaller neighbour, the island of Dun.


We made good progress down the NE coast of Dun. The isolated stack of Levenish lay far out on the horizon. "This won't take long" we thought. The time was now 8pm, well past our dining hour.


Then Murty showed us the most amazing series of caves.


Each cave linked to another and we soon lost all sense of direction and time as we threaded our way through the maze of caverns.


This is probably the most amazing marine cave system in the British Isles!


It has been created by some of the most violent seas that hit the Britain's coasts.


We were so incredibly lucky to be here on a day which was calm enough to allow us to enter.


All thoughts of our evening meal were forgotten.


Each of us was lost in our thoughts as we drifted silently through the caves and arches in awe of nature's creation.


Eventually we emerged on the SW side of Dun, now knowing that it is an island riddled with caves.



02/06/2008